August 1st Looming: What is Bitcoin Cash?

In the recent news, with August 1st just around the corner, Bitcoin has shown that it is steps away from activating Segregated Witness (SegWit2x) and overall block size increase. However, some users are not satisfied with this outcome and have devised their own way to split the blockchain and create a new crypto currency called Bitcoin Cash. The developer, Calin Culianu is the one user who is not happy with SegWit and believes that many others are not as well.

What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin cash is essentially a split from the Bitcoin blockchain, but it differs in specific ways:

It increases the block size to 8 MB

It removes SegWit, a code change that might activate on the bitcoin blockchain by the end of August

They plan to protect against replay and wipeout attacks

Offer a proof-of-work (POW) that is faster than Bitcoin

Some may call this an “alt coin”, the term dubbed for the fork in any software that creates a new crypto currency and with its own market. However, unlike other alt coins, Bitcoin Cash will have the same transaction history as its predecessor Bitcoin until its final split. So, by the time of this final split, users will have Bitcoin on both blockchains.

”If the Segwit2x agreement fails to implement the 2x part, which is not entirely unreasonable, and only ends up being being basically SegWit without the 2x, many miners will likely defect to Bitcoin Cash.” – Calianu speaking to Coindesk

Many have been contacting their exchanges trying to find out if they can basically get this Bitcoin Cash for free as it would be a copy of the transactions noted in Bitcoin. Although, exchanges like Coinbase have openly stated: “In the event of two separate blockchains after August 1, 2017 we will only support one version. We have no plans to support the Bitcoin Cash fork. We have made this decision because it is hard to predict how long the alternative version of bitcoin will survive and if Bitcoin Cash will have future market value.”

They have made it very clear that on August 1st if your Bitcoin is still in the exchange, you will not have access to it, and you will not have any Bitcoin Cash that will be available to you via Coinbase. The best option for these users is to store your Bitcoins in hardwallets and cold storage until the days have passed and more clarity is given on the crypto currency.

Most of the members of this Bitcoin Cash community are more of the optimistic viewers of a currency that includes a block increase much larger than Bitcoin. However, it has not grasped the larger community that still will view it as “not the real Bitcoin”. Most bitcoin companies, mining pools, developers and investors, don’t view it as having any real intrinsic value to the crypto community.

The best advice for many is to hold your coins in offline wallets just to be safe, and until all the air has cleared about the crypto world.